The Mystery of the Ticklish Pear
by PinkAphid
Summary: CHAPTER 9 UP! A possessed Dobby, a disappearing Ron, an elusive kidnapper, lots of romance and plenty of adventure... Hermione's sixth year looks like it's going to be the most exciting yet!
1. The Watcher in the Night

**A/N: I am writing this story with my friend Isi (witchintraining- great author, check out her work sometime), so it is a joint effort. We just decided to post it on my account since I have never done this before. PLEASE R&R if you like it, and if you don't, then you can just go away and read something else. We really don't have time to bother reading flames, so don't waste your time by writing them.**

**DISCLAIMER: Don't own, can't sue. All characters copyright J.K. Rowling. Idea copyright Isi and Naomi.**

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CHAPTER 1: It was 2am. Hermione was sleeping peacefully. Her window was slightly ajar to let in any hint of a breeze from the world outside. The curtains fluttered in the breeze. Hermione stirred, and slowly opened her eyes. Her first thought was 'Why have I woken up?' Her second thought was 'I thought I put the glow-in-the-dark tennis balls away'. Something was in her room. Something with eyes like glow-in-the-dark tennis balls. It sighed dreamily. 'Who's there?' whispered Hermione. She was getting a bit freaked now she had realized that the glow-in-the-dark tennis balls were actually eyes. 'Hello?'

The tennis balls blinked quickly, and then flickered out.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: OK people, I know that was very very short, but don't judge the rest of the story just by this. Something very different happens later, and this just seemed like a good place to stop. We will update really soon- Naomi has written most of the second chapter but Isi is taking a while to finish it. Please check back soon, the next chapter should be up in under a week… hopefully…


	2. Fast Trains, Faster Emotions

OK, so here's where it all gets going. Many thanks to Isi, who managed to get her bit done a whole 2 DAYS before expected! Thanks hun, and I hope those pesky buggers don't disturb you anymore! 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CHAPTER 2 

The red steam train was there at Platform 9 3/4 as usual. Hermione liked turning up early to make sure she got a decent compartment and to check that nothing had changed in the wizarding world while she had been away. She got on board, loaded her trunk and went to sit in the prefect's lounge to wait for Harry and Ron. She just couldn't understand why they always turned up so late they almost missed the train.

In fact she was so early that there were still house-elves running about the place cleaning up. It was only 10:00. The train left in an hour. What was she going to do until then? She was beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable, as if someone was staring hard at her. She looked around suspiciously.

"Dobby! What are you doing here?" she exclaimed.

"Hermione Granger must not be angry with Dobby! Dobby is just…."

"No, no Dobby, I'm not mad!" Hermione interrupted. "I was just surprised to see you. Aren't you supposed to be working for Dumbledore?"

"Dobby must go now! Goodbye, Hermione Granger!" said Dobby hurriedly, before rushing out of the prefect's lounge.

"Hmmm… seemed eager to get away. I wonder if he's still working for Dumbledore."

It was now 10:20 and there was still no sign of Ron and Harry. "Where are they?"

Hermione was really frustrated. Ron was a prefect now; he should be acting more responsibly. Students were milling about all over the place; piling bags onto the train, saying goodbye to weepy parents and trying to catch runaway pets. Through the scores of students Hermione glimpsed three heads of shocking red hair. 'Finally!' she thought. Pushing her way through the crowds, she headed towards the Weasleys.

"Hermione!" shouted Ron.

"Where have you been? I've been waiting for you for ages!"

"Mum discovered she'd forgotten to bring any Muggle money when we were half way here. We had to turn back," Ron replied.

"Right. Where's Harry? Wasn't he staying at the Burrow with you?"

"Yeah, he came with us but he went off somewhere… he said he had to talk to someone," Ginny said. "But I don't know who."

"cough-Cho-cough."

"What was that Ron?" said Mrs. Weasley.

Ron blushed bright red and mumbled something along the lines of "nothing". It was then that Harry turned up.

"Hey Hermione! Good summer?"

'Wow,' thought Hermione, 'He's… different.' She was noticing, seemingly for the first time, that maybe… perhaps… she liked him.

At that moment, the exact same thought was going through Harry's mind. Coincidence?

"Yes, thanks. France was very… nice," Hermione finished lamely. This was odd. She had never found herself lost for words before. She looked up at Harry. Their eyes locked only for a few seconds, but to Hermione it seemed like an eternity. Behind them, the Hogwarts Express was starting up.

"Hurry now, or you'll miss the train! Quickly now!" Mrs. Weasley was hurrying them on.

Half and hour later, the Hogwarts Express was well on its way. Harry was alone in the carriage, as Ron and Hermione were both in the Prefect's carriage.

"Anything off the trolley my dear?" the cheery witch came along with a trolley laden with wizarding treats.

"Ummm… a bottle of pumpkin juice and some chocolate frogs please. Oh yeah, and some cauldron cakes."

"That'll be three sickles and seven knuts, please."

Harry handed over the money and took his food.

Harry sat alone for a while, mulling over the conflicting emotions that were racing through his mind. He had had an incredibly short conversation with Cho before getting on board the train, and there had been some casual flirting going on and Cho had revealed that she had dumped Michael Corner.

But just now Harry had looked at Hermione- Hermione!- and felt… what had he felt? It wasn't the same thing that he felt for Cho, yet there were similarities. And what was it with her eyes? He had only noticed just how expressive her big brown eyes could be…

Another hour passed uneventfully. Harry was just thinking that he should change, when Cho entered the compartment.

"Hi! Anyone sitting here?" she asked, and without waiting for a reply she sat down and helped herself to a cauldron cake.

"Hi," said Harry. He didn't exactly know what to say. Last year he would have been delighted if Cho had decided to visit him, even if she did eat his cake without asking, but now… now he suddenly couldn't care less. Visions of Hermione coursed though his busy mind. Those eyes…

"Hello? Anything wrong?" asked Cho.

"No, not at all. What are you doing here?" Harry wasn't meaning to be so blunt, he just couldn't help it.

"Why? Don't you want me here? I just came to ask if you wanted to join us."

"I'm fine, thanks."

"Actually, there was another reason I came down here. I've been thinking about you all summer, and it's really weird, I can't get you out of my head, it's like you're always there, watching me."

"Oh," said Harry, unsure whether this was a good thing.

"And I just couldn't stop thinking about how bad I was to you Harry. I was really selfish, and you've been through so much already." She sighed and flicked her hair back over her shoulder. "Anyway, the point is I feel really bad, and I want to make it up to you Harry. I really like you, and I don't expect you to want me back right away, but it would mean a lot to me if you thought it over."

"Alright. I'll think about it Cho." Answered Harry calmly. Cho seemed satisfied, and she tried to leave. It would have been more graceful if she hadn't bumped into Hermione coming in.

"Hello Hermione. See you round Harry," she said.

Hermione came in and sat down opposite Harry. "What was Cho doing here? I thought she was all caught up with that Michael guy."

"What? Oh… yeah… she dumped him. She just came in to say something," Harry replied, feeling rather dazed.

Hermione seemed satisfied with this reply, as she helped herself to a cauldron cake.

"So… erm… what's the prefect's carriage like?" asked Harry. He wasn't particularly interested; he just wanted to say something to break the tension between them.

"Yeah, nice. Listen, you haven't seen Ron anywhere, have you? Only he hasn't been in the prefect's carriage all journey. I thought he might be here with you. He's not acting much like a prefect," Hermione gushed.

'It isn't like Hermione to be acting like this,' thought Harry. 'She's all flustered, and why isn't she looking at me?'

Harry wasn't the only one to wonder this; Hermione herself didn't know why she couldn't bring herself to look into those bright green eyes, full of emotion and mystery.

'Aaagh! Why am I thinking like this? Harry's my friend; it's not as if I have feelings for him'. But even as she thought this, she knew it wasn't true. Perhaps she did have feelings for Harry.

Ron conveniently chose that exact moment to enter the carriage, his hair more than usually messy. He blushed when he saw Harry and Hermione together- he at least could see that there was something going on between them.

"Oh, sorry, have I interrupted anything?" he started, blushing even deeper. He now resembled a tomato that had spontaneously caught on fire.

"No, why?" replied Hermione, seemingly her usual bossy self again. "And where have you been? You're supposed to be in the prefect's carriage, and you haven't been there all journey. Really, Ron, you should make much more of an effort now that you're a prefect. Think of all the little first years, who'll look up to you for help. If you're not a good role model for them, they'll turn out like… like you and Harry, in your first year."

Ron was quite taken aback. "Well then, maybe I shouldn't be a very good role model, then the first years will start saving the school from maniacally evil wizards, and you, Harry and I will be given a break for a while," he said after a pause.

"Oh, whatever Ron. I didn't mean it like that. You know what I meant. Harry agrees with me anyway, don't you Harry?"

"What? Oh, yeah. Hi Ron, where have you been?" Harry replied. He had been gazing aimlessly out of the window, for no particular reason, and when he turned his attention back to the carriage he found that he had completely ignored everything that had happened in the last five minutes.

"Are you all right Harry? It's just, you seem a bit… out of it, if you know what I mean," said Ron.

"That's the second time we've asked where you've been, and you still haven't answered. Where have you been? If you don't want to tell us, that's fine, but we need some explanation," said Hermione, getting slightly irritated.

"Um… prefect duties you know." Said Ron off-handedly, fidgeting slightly as he took one of Harry's cauldron cakes. "Game of chess Harry?"

"How could you have been doing prefect duties, when I didn't see you in the prefect carriage at all?" accused Hermione, reaching for another of Harry's cauldron cakes.

"I was in the Prefect carriage… kinda." Said Ron, pulling out a chess board. "Black or white, Harry?" he added.

"Black please." Said Harry. "And it would be nice to have a break from evil. I mean, every year something happens. Every single year. I think that it's high time everyone else in this school started pulling their weight, fighting evil wise that is."

Hermione stared at Harry in shock. When she found that she couldn't do this without _staring_ at Harry, she decided to stare at Ron instead.

"How can you two say that?"

"Pretty easily actually. I mean, I've survived cursed broomsticks, possessed teachers, huge plants that try to strangle me- pawn to D3-"

"Harry! You can't expect…"

"- Three headed dogs, trolls, crazy house elves, huge snakes, teenage dark lords, basilisk venom,-"

"Harry, shut up already." Said Ron flippantly reaching for another cauldron cake. "Knight to G7."

"- Crazed murders, dementors, werewolves- Pawn to E4"

"Shut up Harry. Where were you Ron? Don't tell me that bull about the Prefects carriage again."

"- Dragons, mere people, sphinxes, Voldemort-"

"I _was_ in the prefects carriage, Hermione. And don't say that name Harry!"

"- And of course there was all that crap last year, including, wait for it Ron, Voldemort. Rook to C6."

"Are you quite done, Harry? Haven't missed anything have you? And DON'T SAY HIS NAME!"

"You should learn to say his name Ron, I have," said Hermione putting down the empty cake wrapper and reaching for another. "And I know you weren't in that carriage!"

"Hermione, leave it alone already! I was with another prefect if you must know. There were some things we needed to discuss. Knight to F7." Ron helped himself to another cauldron cake.

At that moment the compartment door slid open to reveal Malfoy Crabbe and Goyle.

"We ran out of cauldron cakes and decided that since…" Malfoy was cut off abruptly as Harry casually waved his wand at the doorway, making it close forcibly on the unwelcome Slytherins.

"Somehow I'm fed up of them, you know?" said Harry. "I want more of a challenge in guessing who's plotting against me. I mean, three guesses and I don't even need them. 1. Voldemort, 2. Malfoy, 3. Snape. Easy really. Queen to D3."

"I just knew he wasn't done." Said Ron, casually taking a cake from the rapidly decreasing pile.

"Ronald Weasley, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!?" Hermione yelled, spraying cake crumbs all over Harry. "And for goodness sake give me a straight answer."

"Shut up Hermione. Pawn to E7."

"Aaah!" Hermione was really exasperated. She decided that it really wasn't worth it, and leant back in her seat, closing her eyes. Immediately an image of her and Harry flashed across her mind. Startled, Hermione bolted up, eyes snapping open.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" There seemed to be genuine concern in Harry's eyes.

"What? Oh, nothing, I just… thought of something…" Hermione replied.

"Queen to E5," put in Ron, undisturbed by Hermione's unusual behaviour.

"Bad move, Ron. Castle to B4. Check." Harry was absorbed in the game again.

The rest of the journey passed uneventfully for the three of them. By the time they pulled up to Hogsmeade Station it was dark, cold, and beginning to drizzle.

"Yuck. Come on, let's get to the carriages quickly," said Ron, pushing past everyone else in a rush to get to the doors first.

Harry, Ron and Hermione piled into a carriage, and were soon joined by Neville. The carriage gave a jolt and was off, carrying its passengers up to the huge stone castle that was to be their home for the next 10 months.

_------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_Hope you liked it! Please R&R!_


	3. Where's Ron?

**Author's Note:**

**Witchintraining (my co-author) is not being v reliable and updating, so now I am very mad at her and she is just my beta. So this story is just mine from now on… Please R&R! Bonus Brownie Points if you say what the password to the Gryffindor Common Room means/suggests…**

**p.s. these: "" are used with thoughts, and these: '' are used with speech. Just so you're not all confused by the end.**

CHAPTER 3

Hogwarts really was a magnificent sight from where Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville sat in their rickety old coach. With its windows lit up warmly, it glowed like a friendly beacon, welcoming them home.

As soon as they arrived they proceeded to the Great Hall, following their noses that were being enticed by the delicious smells of hot pumpkin pies, sizzling roast meats, fresh bread and cakes, and a hundred other delectable goodies.

They got to the Gryffindor table to find that seats were filling up fast, but they managed to get three together. Hermione was sandwiched between Ron and Harry.

"He's so close…" Hermione thought. She quickly mentally slapped herself. "Why am I thinking like that? He's just my… friend…" But she was beginning to have her doubts. She wasn't called smartest girl in the year for nothing- she could tell when something was different. That's how she knew that she felt something for Harry, but she didn't know what.

"Mmmm… she smells nice. I wonder what perfume she uses?" thought Harry. He too could sense there was something between them. He had begun to think that there was something stronger between them ever since that casual glance that had their eyes locked as if for an eternity back at King's Cross…

Both Harry and Hermione were so swept up in their complicated thoughts that neither of them was paying any attention to the Sorting Ceremony, or Dumbledore's Speech. It was only when Ron nudged Hermione, who snapped back to reality- knocking her goblet over in the process and thereby distracting Harry- that they realised that Gryffindor now had 12 new first-years (six girls and six boys) and that the food had arrived and everyone was tucking in greedily. They quickly loaded their plates with everything in sight, and ate silently.

Ron was the first to finish, which was very unusual. He got up from the table silently, and made to leave the hall, but not before Hermione had asked 'Where are you going? You haven't even eaten dessert yet!'

'Ummm… nowhere…' the guilty-looking Ron replied, blushing slightly. 'I just feel a bit tired, that's all. I'm gonna… go to bed.'

No one else seemed bothered by this reply, but it only increased Hermione's suspicions even more. Where did Ron keep going? Was he seeing anyone in secret?

'You're very tense,' whispered Harry in her ear. 'Is anything wrong?'

The softness of his breath on her ear sent a wave of frisson through her. For a while, she was lost for words.

'Well?'

'No, nothing, just… I think it's a bit odd the way Ron keeps disappearing like this. I'm going to follow him- do you want to come?' Hermione replied in an equally quiet whisper.

'I dunno… I'll miss dessert…' Harry was reluctant, but agreed in the end. Both of them got up and left, saying that they were going to follow Ron and see if he was ok.

'But if both the prefects are gone, how are we gonna get into the common room? We don't know the password,' said Seamus.

'Very good point. It's pulchratude,' Hermione said.

'Ok, thanks,' Seamus said.

Harry and Hermione left the Great Hall, but Ron was nowhere to be seen.

'He'll be in the Common Room by now,' said Harry.

'Well, he would be if he knew the password, but he wasn't there when they told us, so where can he be?'

They wondered up to the common room anyway, to see if Ron was waiting outside. He wasn't. They were standing in front of the portrait of the fat lady.

'Password?' she said. They ignored her.

'Oh come on, Hermione, does it really matter where he is? He'll be back later. There's no point going back to the Hall now, why don't we just go to bed? I'm so tired,' complained Harry.

'Um, excuse me, are you going to stand out here all day, or are you going to say the password?' No response.

Hermione could see he had a point, it was no good looking for Ron now. He would be back later.

'Fine then. Pulchritude,' said Hermione.

'At last,' said the Fat Lady, as the portrait swung open to reveal their common room. It looked just the same as it always had, warm and homely, with a big fire roaring in the hearth.

'I'm not so tired. I'll just get a book, and wait until the others get back,' said Hermione, heading over to the staircase leading up to the girls' dormitories.

'Ok, I think I'll head to bed now. 'Night,' said Harry, climbing his own stairs.

'Goodnight,' answered Hermione, again feeling a tiny shiver of frisson.

When she had reached her dormitory she picked up part three of her favourite muggle book- 'The Lord of the Rings', and returned to the fire, where- for the first time in quite a while- she managed to get the best seat on the sofa.

Time passed. Up in his dormitory, Harry couldn't sleep. He found himself thinking about Hermione- her soft brown hair, her big honey-coloured eyes, her clear skin. He couldn't resist his temptations; he had to see her again. He climbed out of the four-poster bed, put his robe back on quickly, and quietly climbed back down the stairs.

Hermione didn't hear Harry approach, or feel his penetrating stare, fixed on her. She was so absorbed in her book that she didn't notice he was even there until she felt his soft breath move her hair, ever so slightly. She spun round, only to find herself drowning once again in his bottomless bright green eyes. She couldn't move.

After a minute or so, she regained herself. 'What are you doing?' she asked, so softly she could barely be heard. Her voice was wavering, and she still could not bring herself to look away from him.

'I… I don't know. I just felt like… like I had to see you again,' replied Harry, feeling a bit embarrassed. 'I didn't mean to scare you or anything.' He sat down on the sofa beside her. 'Can I sit here?'

'Um, yeah, sure,' said Hermione, managing to return her gaze to her book again. Now she could feel Harry's stare, and she felt… she didn't know what she felt. She just knew that she wouldn't be able to bear it if he wasn't there, beside her, staring at her.

Harry moved closer, close enough to reach out to the hand lying in her lap and grasp it. He tucked a strand of long brown hair behind Hermione's ear.

Hermione turned her face towards him again, and before either of them knew exactly what they were doing, their lips were locked in a passionate kiss. They lost all track of time, they were locked together in an embrace which could have- would have- lasted for much longer than it actually did if at that moment they hadn't heard Seamus's voice outside saying 'pulchritude' and the portrait creaking open.

Harry and Hermione sprang apart, straightened their robes and tried to act as if nothing had happened. Luckily, Seamus was a bit slow on the uptake and didn't notice anything unusual.

'Hey, did you find Ron?' he asked when he saw them.

'No, we thought he might be here but he wasn't, and the castle is a bit big to start searching around tonight. He'll be back soon,' said Hermione, who was a little breathless from… she didn't know what.

'OK. Well, I'm going to bed now. See you in the morning!' Seamus said goodnight as a lot more students came in through the portrait hole. The noise was almost overwhelming- students catching up with friends they hadn't seen for two months produce a lot of chatter. There was obviously no chance to talk anymore that night, so both Harry and Hermione went up to their dormitories.

Neither of them could stop thinking about what had happened. Questions were whizzing round Hermione's head as she lay on her bed, wide awake, hidden by the curtains of the four-poster bed. "Well, that was unexpected. Was it just a one-time thing, or is he really serious? Am I? How can we let Ron know without him feeling betrayed? Where is Ron? Why does he keep disappearing? Why do I get the same feeling whenever I see Harry that I never want him to be out of my sight?"

Harry's thoughts weren't quite so philosophical. "Whoah. She's a good kisser. Cho wasn't that good."

A/N: See that li'l old button down there saying 'Go'? Click it! Click it now! Or I will set Dobby on you!


	4. The New Year Begins

**OK, here's chapter 4! All the chapters are gonna be roughly this length from now on (about 2 pages), as I prefer more shorter updates than less longer ones. And this is my story, so I'm gonna have my way with it. R&R!**

**Don't own, can't sue.**

CHAPTER 4 

THUMP. The sudden noise woke Hermione, who looked around, startled, to see what it was that had woken her. She saw that her clock had fallen off the table beside her bed. "I wonder what made it fall off?" she thought as she picked it up. The time was 6:42am, and no one else was awake. Knowing that she would never get back to sleep again now she got up, dressed silently, and made her way downstairs to the Common Room, hoping to have a chance to read her latest book- 'Healing Made Easy' (A/N: Hermione wants to be a Healer in this story, if that has any relevance of any kind).

A beam of light shone through the window of the 6th year boys' dormitory and alighted on Harry's sleeping face, waking him up. His first thought was 'Grrrrr… that was a nice dream.' And indeed it had been- he had saved Hermione from a giant dentist's drill by throwing a pot of petunias at its head. He looked at the clock. It was 6:42am and no one else was awake. Knowing that he would never get back to sleep again now he got up, dressed silently and made his way downstairs to the Common Room, hoping to have a chance to get some homework done. He stopped suddenly when he saw Hermione curled up on the sofa reading a book. His heart flipped over, and he coughed quietly. Hermione looked up; her eyes were immediately captured by his. Harry walked over to the sofa and sat down beside her. Hermione involuntarily shifted a little closer to him- a movement that Harry didn't object to in the slightest.

'I… um… didn't expect to find you down here,' Harry said. "Geez, is that the best thing I could have come up with?"

'Oh, yeah, I woke up early and thought I'd come down here to read thinking I wouldn't be distracted. Looks like I was wrong…' Hermione replied.

'You think I'm a distraction?'

'Well, I didn't get much work done last night.'

Harry blushed a little. 'Yeah- about that- do you… I mean… uhhh…' he broke off, not knowing how to put his feelings in to words. You don't go up to a person you've regarded as a friend for five years and say 'I think I'm in love with you. D'you wanna go out sometime?'

'What?' Hermione prompted.

Harry decided that it would be less embarrassing if he got it all out at once. 'IreallyenjoyedlastnightandIwaswonderingwillyougooutwithmesometime?' he gabbled.

'Ummm, I didn't quite catch all of that but… I really enjoyed last night too and…' this time it was Hermione's turn to break off as Harry, without waiting for an answer to his question, kissed her fervently. Hermione was stunned by how forgetful she had suddenly become. She had completely forgotten how wonderful it was to be kissed by Harry, to be held in his strong arms, to run her fingers through his thick black hair, to have his body pressing against hers as she leaned back into the welcoming cosiness of the sofa…

It was at that moment that Ron came down the stairs. He saw them tangled together on the sofa, kissing each other as if it was the last kiss they would ever share, oblivious to everything going on around them. He gasped, ran down the rest of the stairs, tripped over the belt of his dressing gown, and tumbled on to the carpet, breaking the spell between Harry and Hermione. They sat up, both breathless, and saw their friend trying to stand up and find a way to cope with this astonishing new discovery in one go. Hermione rushed over to help him but he brushed her away.

'Y-y-you- And you-' he gasped, pointing to each of them in turn. 'Wha-whe-why?'

'Ron, calm down, it's nothing OK, we just… kissed!' said Harry.

'You! And him!' Ron ignored Harry and turned to Hermione, thinking that she- being the clever one- would be able to explain what was going on.

'Ron, calm down OK? Like Harry said, we just kissed. We really didn't mean for you to find out so soon, honestly-'

Ron interrupted her. 'What, so just weren't gonna tell me? After all, why would you tell me? I've only been you're best friend for five years!' shouted Ron sarcastically.

'Ron you don't understand! We didn't want to tell you until we knew it was serious! And keep your voice down, you're going to wake the whole tower up!' Hermione begged.

After a few more minutes of desperate begging from Harry and Hermione Ron finally consented to not tell anyone about them.

They made their way down to breakfast, where they found a feast of sausages, cereal, porridge, bacon, toast, pancakes, muffins and ice cream (A/N: Yes, ice cream. I love ice cream for breakfast!). The table was almost empty as it was still quite early, but Neville arrived soon and had just started telling them about what he had done over the holidays (including being turned into a toad by his Uncle Algie and discovering that Trevor was in fact a Trevette who fell madly in toady-love with the toad Neville). Luckily they were saved from further tales by the arrival of Professor McGonagall with their timetables.

They groaned in unison. 'Double Potions with Slytherin first thing! How much worse can it get?' moaned Ron.

'Luckily, not much,' replied Hermione. 'After that we have DADA. I wonder who our teacher is? I didn't see anyone new last night.'

'Professor Mellitus,' said Neville. 'She came in late and Dumbledore introduced her after you left. She looked really nice.'

'Well, we'll find out soon.'

The four of them had finished by now, and made to leave the hall. They got their bags and went down to the dungeons. Harry turned to speak to Ron, but realised that he wasn't there.

'Hermione, Ron's gone off again. It's kinda getting worrying now…'

'Well, I'm sure he'll turn up soon. He's probably just gone to the Hospital Wing to get out of Potions.'

'But still, it's not like him to go somewhere without telling us.'

'He might just be a little pissed off with us. You know, the whole going behind his back thing,' Hermione suggested.

'He took it quite well, considering how he found out though. Forget about him, we're a little early for Potions. How are we going to pass the time until then?' replied Harry.

Hermione looked at her watch and saw that it was only five minutes until Potions began. 'Oh, right,' she said, catching on. 'After all, we wouldn't want to be early on the first lesson. We wouldn't be making the right impression.'

'And we want to keep up our reputation. So what are we going to do about it?' said Harry flirtatiously.

'I think I know just the thing.'

If anyone was to pass the second classroom on the fourth floor corridor right at that moment, they wouldn't have heard anything because of Hermione's silencing spell. Both agreed that it was and excellent way to spend an extra five minutes. They arrived in Potions a fashionable ten minutes late.

'Aaah, what a pleasure. Mr. Potter has finally decided to grace us with his presence.' Snape's malicious voice was dripping with sarcasm. 'Tell me, what is your excuse this time? You got lost?'

The Slytherins snickered. 'Actually, no, not this time. We've managed to learn how to find our way around after five years here. One of the staircases spun round and we had ended up at the bas of the astronomy tower, so it took a while to get back to the dungeons,' replied Harry, undaunted by the ferocity of his teacher's expression.

'10 points from Gryffindor for your cheek Potter. Now sit down before it becomes 20. As for the rest of you, you have a minute to finish copying out the recipe on the board before we get started,' snarled Snape.

Harry and Hermione took their normal places at the back of the classroom, where they found Ron.

'Where were you? We turned round and you were gone!' asked Hermione.

'And the same to you. There's no point forcing me to keep your secret if you're gonna go giving it away yourselves,' replied Ron.

'What do you mean?' whispered Harry.

'Oh come on! It's SO obvious you found an empty classroom or something. See? You're all red!'

'5 points from Gryffindor for talking! Mr. Weasley, have you finished copying what's on the board?' Snape snapped.

Ron just turned red and mumbled in to his robes.

The rest of potions passed in much the same way with Snape continually picking on Ron, Harry and Hermione as if he were making up on lost time. Neville once again spilled his shrinking potion half way through the lesson, providing a welcome distraction as Snape tried to maintain control over a miniscule, panicking Crabbe.

**Ok, well that's it for this time. Sorry there aren't any cliffies yet… But Ron gets busted soon I promise. The faster you review, the faster I update! Hope that's some incentive… Answers to reviews next chapter if you guys are nice enough to me.**

**cough-pressthebutton-cough. **


	5. Drunk Love

**Hey hey hey, here's chapter 5! How long has it been since the last update? Oooh, too long. But don't blame me! Blame everything on homework.**

**Don't own, can't sue.**

Chapter 5- Drunk Love

Somehow Harry, Ron and Hermione managed to get through their first lesson without much incident other than losing a grand total of 20 points for Gryffindor. Ron was livid.

'How dare he! And he didn't take any off Malfoy for flicking that newt's tail at Neville!'

'Ron, you should know by now that it would take a lot more than that for Snape to knock points off Malfoy,' said Harry. 'What's next?'

'DADA. With that new teacher Neville said looked nice. Professor Mellitus,' Hermione said.

Professor Mellitus was indeed as nice as Neville had thought she would be, if a little patronizing. The general thing with new teachers is they never do anything in the first lesson- they just want to get to know you (especially if it's their first job). Professor Mellitus was no exception, meaning that Harry and Hermione were able to spend a happy hour passing notes telling each other what they were going to do when they got out of class.

Lunch passed quickly, along with the rest of the day, and before anyone knew it the common room was emptying as students left for bed. Finally Harry, Ron and Hermione were the only ones left sitting by the fire.

'It's getting pretty late. I'm going to bed,' said Ron as he glanced at the clock which showed it was 11:24 pm. 'You coming Harry?'

'Yeah, I've just got to finish this essay then I'll come up,' he replied.

Ron left, and Harry and Hermione were alone at last for the first time in what seemed like ages. Hermione shifted closer to Harry as he slid his arm around her waist.

'Finally! I thought he'd never leave,' said Hermione. 'I know it's a kind of horrible thing to say about your best friend but… I'm glad he's gone.' She leant her head on Harry's shoulder and snuggled closer to him.

'Me too. But forget about him, it's just you and me now,' Harry replied, kissing her forehead gently.

This was all the prompting Hermione needed. She tilted her head up and met his lips with hers. THUMP. Hermione started. 'What was that?'

'I don't know,' Harry replied.

A small green figure wearing a navy blue knobbly jumper, odd socks, a bright orange tie with moving fluorescent green brooms and an assortment of woollen hats that strongly resembled tea-cosies emerged from the shadows.

'Dobby? What are you doing here?' asked Harry. 'Aren't the house elves supposed to stay in the kitchens?'

Dobby winced. 'Harry Potter must not be angry at Dobby. Poor Dobby just wanted to visit Harry Potter. But Dobby sees that Harry Potter is busy with his Hermy,' replied Dobby.

'It's ok, I'm not mad, you just startled us that's all. Could you find a better way of interrupting us next time?'

Dobby nodded silently and backed off into the shadows.

'Hey, Dobby, don't be mad! Where are you going?' asked Hermione, but Dobby had gone. She turned to Harry. 'Well that's strange. It reminds me of something… but I don't remember what…'

'Don't worry about it, it's probably nothing. Dobby is very weird after all,' said Harry, comforting her by wrapping her tightly in his arms.

Hermione wasn't convinced. She was sure something odd was going on, but she didn't know what. 'Well, Ron was right. It is getting late. I'm going to bed.' She made her way to the stairs and Harry followed her. 'Go to your own dormitory!' Hermione said.

'Fine. See you in the morning,' Harry replied, and turned to his own dormitory.

Hermione continued up the stairs, and got into bed. She didn't see the glowing eyes looking at her from behind Lavender's curtains as she changed. She drank some water from the glass beside her bed, and instantly fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.

**P.S. More Brownie Points for knowing what the DADA professor's name is! There's only one way to tell me… cough-clickthebutton-cough**


	6. Passage to the Kitchens

**Ooooh, lots of action! Well, compared to the first few chapters anyway. Yayness! **

**DISCLAIMER: Don't own, can't sue.**

CHAPTER 6- A Great Discovery

Hermione woke later than normal after a deeper than normal sleep. She sat up and looked to her left, where… wait a minute. Where her bedside table should have been there now stood a small three-legged stool. Hermione took a better look around. Where was she? Certainly not in her dormitory… She gasped. She was in the kitchens! House elves were scurrying around everywhere, purposefully avoiding looking at her.

'Umm… excuse me, why am I here?' she tried to ask a passing elf carrying a nearly empty plate of sausages. He ignored her and kept on going. It was the same with every elf she asked- they all just ignored her and got on with their business.

"Am I invisible to them?" Hermione thought. She was getting scared now. She had no memory of being brought here- all she remembered was saying goodnight to Harry, getting ready for bed, and having a drink. The drink! Hermione had read enough detective novels to realise what had happened. There must have been a sleeping potion in the water. But how…?

Hermione got up and walked around, trying to find the way out. Why had anyone wanted to bring her here, for heaven's sake? Finally she found the way out. She approached the back of the painting of the fruit bowl and was just climbing out when someone grabbed her by the wrist. She whipped round but was met by a saucepan, knocking her out instantly.

Meanwhile, Harry was being shaken awake by Ron, who was trying (unsuccessfully) to drag him to breakfast.

''Hmmmf… Uggghhh… Stop it Ron… Hermione… Come back,' Harry murmured,

'Shut up Harry. Come down to breakfast,' Ron replied, pulling Harry harder.

Ten minutes later Harry was down in the common room about to leave for breakfast, when Lavender came running down the girls' stairs, closely followed by Parvati.

'Harry, Ron!' Lavender shouted, turning a few heads as she did so. 'Come quick! Hermione's gone!'

'What?' said Harry. 'What do you mean gone?'

'I woke up and she wasn't in her bed. None of us heard her leave in the night, and we have no idea where she could be!'

Harry was stunned. He had no idea either. Ron spoke up. 'It's ok, she probably just went down to breakfast early.'

'It's not like her to go anywhere without telling us,' Harry contradicted. Or me, he thought quietly to himself.

'Well the library then,' said Ron.

'Nah, she'd tell us then too.'

'Well I'd like to here some of your ideas, smart-ass,' Ron replied grumpily.

'I have absolutely no idea where she could be. We'll just have to wait and see if she turns up. If she doesn't come to Arithmancy, we'll know something's wrong. She never misses that,' Harry suggested.

First lessons came and went, as did lunch, and Arithmancy, and there was no sign of Hermione at all.

'OK, so now I think something fishy's going on,' admitted Harry, as he and Ron sat in the Common Room after dinner writing a foot-long essay on the lives and habits of Mongolian Griffwarblers for Herbology.

'Hate to say I told you so…' Ron said.

'Shut up. I think we should go looking for her.'

'Harry, don't be stupid. This is a bloody huge castle to search for one girl, especially when we have no idea where she is. Can't you think of anything better?'

'No. But we might be able to find out roughly where she is. I saw her reading something about tracking spells the other day. All you have to do is get something of the person you want to track and charm it to float back to its owner,' said Harry, quite pleased that he had remembered this.

'Ooh, that sounds good. Do we have anything of hers?' Ron looked brighter at this prospect.

'Duh, she's got a trunk full of stuff in her dormitory, dumb-ass. Just get Lavender or Parvati to bring us something.'

'Oh, right…' Ron blushed at his stupidity.

'Oi, Lavender?' shouted Harry.

Lavender came over. 'What?'

'Could you help us?' Harry asked. 'You see, we want to find Hermione, cos she's been missing all day and we're getting a bit worried. But we need something of hers. Can you get us something out of her trunk?'

'Yeah, sure. What kind of thing?'

'I don't think it matters really. Just something small and quite inconspicuous would be best I guess. See if she has a spare quill up there or something.'

'OK. I'll be back in a tick!' Lavender hurried off, eager to please Harry.

'Dude, you've got an admirer there,' said Ron. 'Lucky bugger. How come you get all the girls?'

'I guess it's all down to my radiant sexiness,' Harry replied, preening himself.

'You're mental, has anyone ever told you that?'

'With Dudley as a cousin, I couldn't have avoided it.'

'Point.'

'Lavender came back bearing a quill and a silky camisole. 'I thought if you were doing a tracking spell a quill might not be big enough, so I brought you something else as well,' she said, handing her findings to Harry breathlessly, before running back to Parvati.

'That's what Hermione wears to bed?' said Ron, gaping at the skimpy lace-trimmed vest.

'I guess so…' Harry replied, quite turned on by the fact that he was actually holding Hermione's underwear. 'But forget about that, we need to find the tracking spell.'

'Can you remember what book it was in?' asked Ron.

'Well, not really, we got kinda distracted…'

'Oh,' said Ron, catching on. 'Great start this, isn't it?'

'Maybe that was it!' Ignoring Ron, Harry grabbed a book that was lying on the table by the fire. It was titled 'Useful Spells You'll Never Find A Use For'.

Great title, thought Harry as he opened it and flicked through rapidly, occasionally pausing at spells which caught his eye- 'Become an expert at writing romance novels,' 'A spell to distract a herd of stampeding ostriches,' and 'How to change the colour of trees,' to name but a few. Finally, on page 210, he found what he was looking for. 'Eureka! Found it! It says: "How to find someone"- original- "Placing an item belonging to the person you want to find on a large flat surface, point your wand at it and say clearly 'Invenire Nemo.' WARNING: The object will immediately be attracted to the person it belongs to, and may set off at an alarming speed." Neat.'

'What are we waiting for?' said Ron.

'The common room to empty,' replied Harry. 'Look, we can't just go running off through the corridors after a silk vest. Wait 'til everyone's gone to bed, then we can get my invisibility cloak and follow it when no one's around.'

'Right. Good plan. But… Harry… what if we bump into a teacher? Won't they think it's strange for a vest to be floating round the corridors at night?'

'Ron, do you want to rescue Hermione? I have a very strong feeling that she's in trouble, and she needs us to save her! Now are you going to help me or not?' Harry was almost shouting.

'OK, ok, I'll do it. Just don't blame me if anything bad happens…'

'Deal.' Harry sat back down.

After what seemed hours, but was in fact only 30 minutes, the common room had emptied. Harry got his invisibility cloak, and returned downstairs to find Ron desperately battling Hermione's silky vest. It was a funny thing to watch, but Harry had no time to laugh. He had to save Hermione.

'Lente!' he said, aiming his wand at the vest. It immediately slowed down. Ron released it and it floated over to the portrait hole, where it stayed floating. Harry and Ron put on the cloak, making sure none of their bodies could be seen, and opened the portrait hole.

The vest floated out, hovering about two feet above the floor. They followed it through corridors, up stairs, down stairs, before it finally came to a stop in front of a painting of a bowl of fruit.

'The kitchens? Why would she be there?' asked Ron.

'Why should I know?' Harry hissed back. 'Hurry up, tickle the pear so we can go in,'

Ron obeyed. The pear wriggled and squirmed, and the painting opened to reveal the kitchens. There was no one about- all the house elves were in bed. Harry and Ron entered silently, keeping a look out for anybody that might hinder them. In the far corner they could see something moving. They approached it cautiously to get a closer look.

Ron gasped. Harry gasped. This was the last thing they had expected…

Cliffie! Ooooh aren't I evil?! Y'know, the faster you review, the faster I update. P.S. Sorry, no review responses this chappie since I don't have the Internet and therefore have to post this at school, where I can't get at my email. It's complicated.

Boogy on down people!

Anyway, get clicking that button to leave me a review!


	7. The Great Escape

**This chapter may be influenced by the music I'm listening to right now, including LotR soundtrack, cheesy 60s love songs and U2 (what else?) Please R&R! P.S. Another formatting note- thoughts are now in italics. It's much easier to tell when characters are talking and when they're thinking that way.**

Chapter 7: Dependent Woman

'Hermione! What's happened to you?' Harry cried, rushing over to help her.

'Nothing, I'm fine really,' replied Hermione.

She didn't look it. Her hands were tied so tightly to the chair she was sitting on that the ropes were cutting into her hands, which looked a little purple from the loss of blood. Her hair was tangled, she had a big lump on the back of her head, her robes were stained and her feet were bare. Anyone would think she had been trapped in the kitchens for months, not just one day.

'Nonsense Hermione, you're a mess. Come on, we're getting you out of here. Why are you here in the first place? What's been going on?' Harry said.

'No, Harry, go! He can't find you here! Please, I'll be alright, just go!' Hermione was desperate.

'I'm not leaving without you!' Harry replied stubbornly. He stepped forward and crouched beside his bedraggled love, trying to untie the ropes around her wrists.

'Well well well. Harry Potter has come to rescue his Hermy,' a high-pitched voice sneered from the shadows. A small, ugly green creature emerged.

'Dobby?' Ron was the first to see him. 'Did you… Were you the one that took Hermione?'

'What the…' Harry looked up, amazed to see that it was the seemingly harmless house-elf who was the cause of all Hermione's pain and suffering. He lunged at the elf. 'You're gonna pay!' he shouted.

'Harry!' Hermione screamed. She tried to get up, but she was still tied securely to the chair. 'Ron, help me! Quick!'

'Oh, right,' Ron replied as he hurried to her side. Her hands were free in moments. She gasped as the feeling rushed back to them, and rubbed the sore marks where the ropes had cut so hard.

But she didn't have time to hang around. She reached for her wand, but found that it had been taken, presumably by Dobby. She grabbed Ron's wand, which was sticking out from his pocket. Pointing it at Harry, who had grabbed hold of Dobby's ears and was swinging him round and round she yelled 'Expelliarmus!' Harry was blasted across the kitchen, landing on a pile of flour sacks. Dobby was hurled the other way, and slammed into a wall. 'Petrificus Totalus!' Hermione cried, just to make sure that he was really unconscious.

Ron was left standing dazedly, not quite realizing what had happened. Hermione rushed over to Harry, who- luckily- was not hurt.

'Harry, are you all right? I'm so sorry I just had to stop you from injuring him!' Hermione wept. All the fear and emotion she had tried to hide over the past 24 hours was bursting out as she fell into Harry's embrace.

'Shhhh Hermione, don't cry! It's ok- I'm here now. You're safe. Calm down,' Harry whispered into her ear as he rocked her back and forth.

Ron's eyes were averted and he was blushing scarlet. 'I'm going back up to the dormitories,' he mumbled.

Harry and Hermione ignored him. Hermione was perfectly happy, cradled in his arms.

'_This is where I'm meant to be,' _she thought. _'In Harry's arms, safe.'_

They didn't need to speak; they just stood there, entwined in each other's arms, until Hermione had stopped crying.

'Come on, we should get back up to the dormitories. My cloak's over here,' Harry said at last.

Hermione was reluctant to leave Harry's embrace, but she stood back and followed him to where he had dropped the cloak. They wrapped it round themselves, their arms around each other. After checking they couldn't be seen, they made their way to the door/painting.

They were just about to leave when Hermione gasped. 'My wand! Dobby took it! I have to get it back,' she said, turning back into the kitchens.

'How? He could have left it anywhere. Where do we look?'

'You have your wand don't you? Here, let me have it,' Hermione commanded.

Harry handed his wand over obediently. 'Accio Hermione's wand,' Hermione said in a determined tone.Nothing happened.

'Nothing's happening,' said Harry.

'Just wait. It's obviously far away, or in a drawer or something,' repleid Hermione patiently.

They didn't have to wait much longer before Hermione's wand came whizzing towards them, complete with chewed up gum.

'Ewww. Gross. Come on, let's go.'

They hurried back to the common room without much incidence- apart from a close encounter with the Bloody Baron, which could have resulted in disaster if it hadn't been for Peeves who managed to divert the Slytherin ghost's attention by dropping a stink bomb in the second-floor corridor.

They arrived back around 2:30am. 'Whoa, we took a lot of time down there!' said Hermione, surprised by how much time had passed.

'Yeah… come on, we need to get you cleaned up. Do you want to go to the Hospital Wing?' asked Harry, concerned.

'No, really I'm fine, I'll just have a shower.' Hermione paused. 'Harry, could you do me a favour?' she asked.

'Anything for you,' he replied.

Hermione thought this was just a tad cheesy but she ignored it. 'Could you please no tell anyone about this whole thing? And can you ask Ron not to either? I don't want a big uproar over the whole thing,' she said.

'But Hermione, we have to tell someone! We can't have a manic house-elf who goes round kidnapping people randomly for no reason! It's dangerous!' Harry objected.

'Well that's the thing Harry, you see, I don't think it was Dobby. Well, I know it was Dobby but I don't think that he was in control of what he was doing,' replied Hermione.

'What, like someone had put the Imperius Curse on him?' asked Harry.

'You catch on quickly. Yes, that's what I thought. You see, sometimes, some of the things he said weren't at all like Dobby- like 'Harry is mine!' and things like that, and then later he would say that I was never going back to Harry Potter, I was staying in the kitchens with him forever.'

'Weird. Sounds like he has some kind of split-personality thingy.'

'No, he was just under Imperius at some times but not others. When he was under Imperius, he acted like he was in love with you, and when he wasn't, he acted like he was in love with me,' said Hermione.

'Right… so whoever was controlling him must want…' realisation dawned on Harry.

'Yes. The person who cast the curse wants you. And Dobby was either just a pawn used because no one would suspect him, or he was willing to go along with the plan because he wanted me. And having me out of the way would give our culprit a chance at getting you,' Hermione said.

'Whoa. You'd make a good detective some day,' Harry replied.

'I've read a lot of detective novels,' shrugged Hermione.

'Well, we can work out who the culprit is tomorrow, after you've had a shower.'

Hermione went off to the showers. It was 3:15am by the time she came out, and both she and Harry were shattered.

They climbed to their dormitories. 'Are you sure you're going to be ok?' asked Harry. 'Dobby won't come back for you, will he?'

Hermione suddenly realised that she was scared to enter her dormitory. She couldn't bare the thought of being taken away again, of being trapped, or tied up, or beaten. She felt tears coming to her eyes. Couldn't she even sleep in her own room without fear of being abducted? She leant heavily against Harry, who led her into her dormitory.

'No! No, don't take me in there!' she cried.

'Hermione, it's ok, I'll stay with you, don't worry!'

Hermione was comforted by this, and allowed herself to be led to her bed. Harry took off her robes and gasped. Hermione's smooth pale skin was covered with bruises and scratches. She hid herself in the blankets.

'Hermione! Tell me exactly what happened down in the kitchens. Please, I just want to help you. You know that, right?' Harry was shocked by Hermione's appearance. _'Whoever did this to her is gonna pay,' _he thought angrily.

'Ok…' Hermione sighed, reluctant to relive the horrors of the past hours. 'I went to bed like normal last night, but I had a drink before I did, and I think it contained some kind of sleeping potion, because I didn't notice anyone taking me away. I woke up in the kitchens, and tried to escape, but…'

Ooooh ain't I evil! Mua ha ha! If you want this resolved, review. If you don't review, I won't be motivated to write more.

**RESPONSES:**

**Fanjimmy: Thank you! I'll try!**

**Rockgirl21: You see? Dobby isn't completely evil… And thanks a bunch for putting me on your favourites list- it's really flattering!**

**Wacko the Sane: Finally, the action you wanted. Hope you can be assed to read it.**

**Jilene Marr: Yes, I have played chess before, but it's very boring and complicated.**

**Dancing Shadows/witchintraining: Quiet you! Of course you're my beta, I sent you chapter 6 didn't I? Keep smiling!**

**Final note: If you leave a signed review, I will check your page-thingy out, so review! Thank you! **


	8. The Truth Comes Out

B/N: (That's a beta note to all you people who didn't get it) Isi, aka witchintraining would like to extend her deepest apologies to both PinkAphid, who happens to be her best friend and also all the wonderful readers of this story for her disgraceful reviews that contained not only spoilers to the marvellous plot of this fic, but also some mistakes in the spoilers. This means that even if you read the reviews in question you may have got the wrong idea…heh heh, sorry about that. I feel especially bad about this of course since I of course used to co-write this fic and am of course the beta reader. I will of course never do anything like it again, and really hope that Naomi leaves this grovelling in the post so I can personally say how sorry I am. After all, I didn't delete her review replies…

Anyhoo, back to PinkAphid for the chapter!

A/N: Long time no see! I'm writing this in pink just for a change, but of course you'll all see it in black. Have got myself into a bit of a predicament with two betas (thought Isi had quit/was ignoring me so asked Caz to do it but then Isi sent this back) so have compromised. The betas will understand what I mean… I hope…

**Chapter 8**

'but whenever I tried, the house-elves would stop me. Dobby must have quite a lot of control down there if he can get all the house elves to assault students like they did with me… They tied me up so tightly all the blood was cut off to my wrists; when I asked for some food they force-fed me rubbish- fat and potato peelings and… eeeurgh…' Hermione shuddered just thinking about it. 'And when I was thirsty they made me drink sour milk; and they wouldn't let me go to the toilet so I just had to hold it in or pee myself. And if I did, I just had to sit there and try and ignore it because I wasn't allowed to clean it up… And they would beat with me with saucepans whenever I complained…' The memories were too horrible and vivid for Hermione to cope with- she broke down in to tears.

'Shhh, calm down, it's ok,' soothed Harry. 'It's over now, you're safe, don't worry!'

'Am I safe? Am I? How do I know that? What if he comes back for me…?' Hermione panicked. Her eyes were wide with terror. 'Please, I don't want to go back there, I can't stand another day there…'

'Don't be silly, of course he's not going to kidnap you again. Trust me; he won't try the same thing again. Now he knows we'll rescue you wherever you are, he won't try it again.'

'But he might try something else! What then?' Hermione's fears had hardly subsided.

'I don't know… But in the mean time we can make sure that there's no opportunity for him to try anything else. I'll stay with you all the time, ok?'

'Yes… please, don't go!' Hermione cried, clinging to him.

Harry had never seen Hermione acting like this. She was in severe shock, and acting very strangely. 'Herm, we must go tell Dumbledore. He'll be able to arrange something- perhaps we can share a bedroom or something, so I can be there all the time. But for now, let's just go to bed. You're obviously very tired; you need to get some sleep.'

'Ok… ok…' Hermione was becoming calmer. She lay back on her bed. Harry lay beside her and pulled the covers over them. Hermione snuggled closer to him and fell asleep almost immediately.

Harry spent a long time just looking at her peaceful sleeping face. He was furious with whoever had done this to his Hermione. When he found whoever it was they were going to pay. After a while he fell asleep. His dreams were full of him, Hermione, and lots of things that would be banned from daytime television.

'OH MY GOD!'

Hermione's delightful and erotic dreams were crudely interrupted by Lavender's shrill voice. She sat up, bleary eyed, waking Harry- who had been lying with his arm around her waist- in the process, 'What?' she asked.

Parvati had also been woken by the scream. 'Hermione, you're back!' she exclaimed. She saw Harry. 'You two… you…' she gaped, open mouthed.

'We two what?' asked Harry, who had also sat up. Lavender squeaked when she saw him looking in her direction and dived back into bed. She didn't want to be seen in just a vest and panties by any guy unless it was Draco. And she wasn't about to admit that.

'Oh… you think that we…' Hermione giggled, catching on. 'No way! Although evidently I should have used a veiling charm.'

Harry finally grasped what they were all getting at. He blushed deeply. Honestly, why couldn't girls just get to the point? He coughed slightly. 'I'm going back to my dormitory,' he said.

'OK. Bye!' Hermione smiled at him and kissed him lightly on the lips.

As soon as he had gone Hermione's roomies turned on her.

'What was he like? Was it good?' asked Parvati, grinning broadly.

'What, are you sick? I told you, nothing happened!' replied Hermione irritably.

'Uh-huh, you honestly expect us to believe that you and Harry slept in the same bed but didn't do anything? Yeah right…' said Lavender sarcastically.

'Ye…'

'How long have you two been going out?' interrupted Parvati.

'Are you really so desperate for gossip that you're grilling me about my non-existent sex life?'

'Come on, there's no good gossip around this time of year! Everyone's got over the whole Crabbe-and-the-wand thing, we need some new rumours!' complained Parvati.

'Crabbe and the wand? Is that referring to what I think it might refer to?' asked Hermione, who was slightly grossed out by the images her mind was coming up with.

'Don't change the subject!'

'Fine. Do you want me to tell you every single little thing that happened?' Hermione was giving in.

'Yes, yes, yes!' said Lavender and Parvati in unison.

'Ok. Harry and I came back from… where I was yesterday. I had a shower- and no, Harry did not join me- and then we came up here. I went straight to sleep. As far as I know, Harry didn't even rise. Is that good enough for you?' Hermione said.

'You two have no sex drive…' said Lavender.

'Yes we do… I think… I've just never had the chance to find out!' Hermione contradicted.

'Then why weren't you all over each other last night?'

'Well, for one thing we've only been together since the beginning of term. That's like, under a month. Two, I really wasn't in the mood. I had just got back from hell on earth, I was tired, dirty and scared, and fucking Harry was not on the top of my to-do list. So quit bugging me!' Hermione was losing her patience.

'Sheesh, you don't need to go all PMS on us. Where were you yesterday anyway? We all missed you,' asked Parvati.

'Promise you won't spread it round the school?'

'Promise!' said Lavender and Parvati together.

'OK, but if this gets back to me you will be so hexed up that even Madame Pomfrey won't be able to save your asses. You probably won't believe me, but I was in the kitchens,' revealed Hermione.

'The kitchens?'

'What do you think I said?'

'No, I heard you, it's just… how? Why? That's the most random place…' said Parvati.

'I know, but it's true. Two nights ago I had a drink before going to bed, and it contained some kind of sleeping potion. When I woke up the next morning I was in the kitchens. Dobby- one of the house-elves- had kidnapped me and taken me down there. He said that I wasn't going back, that I wasn't going to see Harry ever again. He wanted me for himself…'

Her friends just stared blankly at her. 'You expect us to believe that? That's even more unbelievable than you spending the night in the same bed as Harry and not jumping him.'

'I knew you wouldn't believe me, and I'm sick of your questions,' said Hermione, reaching for her wand. 'OBLIVION!' she cried.

'Why are we hanging around here? We're going to be late for breakfast!' said Lavender.

_Phew. Thank goodness they've forgotten everything. They're such gossips the news would be round the school in no time, _thought Hermione as she dressed in her school robes.

Lessons were over for the day, and Harry was playing wizard chess with Ron while Hermione read a book.

'When are you going to tell Dumbledore?' Harry asked Hermione.

'I don't know… I don't know if I want to. I want to work this out on my own will you two help me please?' she replied.

'Hermione, I think it would be a good idea for you to tell Dumbledore, but if you don't want to then of course we'll support your decision,' said Harry. 'Won't we Ron?' he continued nudging Ron.

'What? Oh… yeah of course,' replied Ron absent-mindedly.

Hermione rolled her eyes. 'Thanks guys, this really means a lot to me.'

'So where are we going to start?' asked Harry.

'It's your turn Harry,' said Ron.

'Oh… right… knight to E7.'

Hermione ignored the fact that neither of them were listening properly and continued. 'Before we do anything we need to find out who it was that was controlling Dobby. But how?' she asked, more to herself than anyone else.

'Simple. We get Dobby and put the Imperius Curse on him,' said Ron.

'Ron, that would be a great idea but there are two things standing in our way. 1: It's illegal. 2: None of us can actually do the Imperius Curse. Did that thought ever cross your mind?' said Hermione sarcastically.

'I bet you could learn it if you're that desperate. There'll be books in the library and stuff,' said Ron.

'You know, you might have something there Ron. Let's go down tomorrow, it's Saturday, we'll have loads of time,' said Harry.

Hermione rolled her eyes again.

'You look so cute when you do that!' said Harry.

Hermione smiled seductively and got back to reading her book.

Not much suspense there. Bit of a boring in-betweeny chapter. But the identity of the mysterious stalker-person will probably be revealed in the next chapter, hopefully. Oh yeah, and Ron will play a bigger part soon…

REVIEW RESPONSES:

**witchintraining: **reading your review again has reminded me that you need to grovel a LOT MORE before I forgive you for revealing that… And don't delete this when you're beta-ing it!

**B/N**: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'M SORRY! Is that good enough for you? And I'd never _dream_ of deleting that reply… (A/N Naomi deleted 12 lines of sorrys! And there are still 7 left!)

**dmhg: **Sorry if I sounded harsh about oxford/london. I'm not really that bothered. Thanks for recommending this to your friend! It really means a lot.

**Minty – Soda: **glad you liked it! And I'm happy to see I'm on your AA list! Woohoo!

**Mollziki: **Eeble to you too! The plot is now about as thick as pea soup… heh heh heh!

**B/N: **Disclaimer:  This has been forgotten up til now I think…. Anyway, if either of us were JK Rowling, do you think we'd be writing stuff like this in our spare time? And have you noticed the plot that we have going on…?


	9. Planning

Good GRIEF. I haven't updated since 02-15-05?? That's crazy. Why do you people put up with me? Well, I'm having some problems remembering what plot points I was going to make… but I have some good ideas. Hope you enjoy this – the tone is bound to be a bit different from now on because my style of writing has probably changed in over three years.

DISCLAIMER: Not mine.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

'Found stuff!' Hermione exclaimed happily, slamming a pile of dusty books down onto a table in the Common Room. Harry and Ron jumped.

'What stuff?' Ron asked.

'These books will hopefully teach us how to do the Imperius Curse,' Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

'Uh… yeah… about that…' Harry replied slowly.

'What?' Hermione's voice was dark.

'Well… heh… we were thinking, how will learning the Imperius Curse do us any good? Who will we use it on?'

Hermione seized a book from the top of the pile and whacked Harry around the head. 'Do you have any idea how long it took to dig all these out?' she cried. 'I had to practically snog Flitwick in order to get permission to look through the Restricted Section, and now you're saying it's all useless?'

'Well, you see our point, don't you Hermione?' Ron asked sheepishly. 'Unless we cast it on Dobby, it's useless. And he's already under another Imperius Curse and you can't do it twice at the same time can you?'

Hermione shrugged, disgruntled. 'I'm still mad at you for not telling me _before _I spent four straight hours doing something pointless in the library, when I could have been spending four straight hours doing something _useful_ in the library.'

'Does this mean we can't make out?' Harry tried, flashing puppy-dog eyes at her. Hermione sighed and pulled him towards her.

'Right, well, now that we're back at square one again, what do you propose we do about this whole affair?' Hermione said, wiping some lipstick off Harry's chin. Ron looked away, blushing slightly.

'Let's make a list!' Harry said brightly.

Ron rolled his eyes. 'She's rubbing off on you. Since when have _you_ suggested making a list?'

'Come on Ron, it's a good idea!' Hermione agreed as she pulled a sheet of parchment towards her, reaching for a quill. 'Based on what we already presume – that is, that someone put Dobby under Imperius to get to Harry – we'll make a list of anyone who might be in love with Harry.'

'Wait, in love with _Harry_? It was Hermione they made Dobby capture!' Ron was bewildered.

'We were thinking,' explained Hermione, 'that whoever it was captured me to get to Harry. Because whenever Dobby seemed to be under Imperius, he was all like _Harry Potter is MINE!_' Ron nodded, still confused.

'So to continue,' said Harry, 'who would be in love with me?'

'Who wouldn't?' Hermione winked, squeezing Harry's hand. Harry grinned and kissed her neck.

'Guys! Task in hand!' Ron shrieked.

'Ok… hmm…' Harry coughed.

'Well, let's start. Belatedly,' Hermione admitted. 'Ummm… Ginny, of course, she's had the hots for you since first year.'

'Yeah, but that's only because he saved her bleedin' life!' Ron said indignantly.

'Nevertheless, she's on the list,' Hermione said, scribbling.

'Demelza What's-her-face,' Harry said. 'If she was batty enough to spike Chocolate Cauldrons with love potion, I'm sure she could stoop to some crazy-ass plan like kidnapping you. And lump Romilda Vane in their too.'

'Right,' said Hermione. 'Who else… you went to the Yule Ball with Parvati. And Lavender has been hitting on you ever since Won-won broke her ickle heart.'

'Cho Chang, you had a thing going with her,' Ron changed the subject quickly.

'Yeah, she said something on the Hogwart's Express about being ready to get back together if I ever wanted to,' Harry remarked.

'Hmmm… she has just become our number one suspect then. Let's get our investigation on!'

'Golden Trio Go!' Ron cried, jumping up and saluting the air.

'Ron… what the hell?' Harry laughed.


End file.
